Socialism

Well the election result turned out okay(ish) in Scotland. So long as the SNP dont let this majority go to their head and start going all independence, independence independence :yawn: again…largely because, like the lib dems with AV, theyll likely be disappointed. Indeed it would be sensible for them to delay any independence referendum for as long as possible. With the threat of such a referendum hanging over them, the Torys down in London know they have to be on best behaviour as far as Scotland goes. While the opinion polls currently show a referendum would be lost, the one thing that could tip the scales the other way is the certain knowledge by Scots that with independence they can banish forever the spectre of nasty, penny pinching Tory governments who look on Scotland as some desolate wasteland to be exploited and forgotten about…sorry about that last line, I think Im coming down with Culloden Fever |-|.

Either way if the SNP defer their Independence Referendum (defeat) till say 2013-14 that would mean the Scots can get away with anything for a few years with the Tories unwilling to take the budget scissors to Scotland for fear of drumming up support for independence. By 2013/14 with a general election looming around the corner and the Tories/lib dems about as popular as pig shit with the electorate, even after the Independence Referendum is defeated, theyll be reluctant to make any serious cuts, not unless they want to get wiped out in Scotland altogether.

And speaking of getting wiped out, the Labour party and Lib dems need to assess why it was they lost and the SNP won. Its not so much Scottish independence I favour, its an independent Labour party and Liberal Democrat party in Scotland that doesnt need permission from London to ties their own shoelaces. For example, one of the things that swung me into the SNP camp (for the FPtP seat, I voted Green with the party list) is that Labour are pro-nuclear power. While one could build a limited (and fairly weak) case for nuclear down in England, in Scotland its just silly. Scotland has the best renewable resources in Europe. Why build expensive nuclear reactors, dependant on fuel brought in from abroad and technical support from the French/USA, when we should be encouraging Scottish companies to exploit Scottish renewable resources? Logically, the Scottish Labour party should thus adopt an anti-nuclear position, at least in Scotland, but then theyd be challenging the hierarchy down in London.

Similarly, the only thing stopping the lib dems going into coalition with the SNP before, was the Independence issue. As individuals committed to liberal democratic values it would seem logical for the Scottish Lib dems to adopt a neutral stance on independence (i.e they wont support it if it comes to a Referendum but they wont stop the SNP proposing one). And of course if they were tactical (as the Tories clearly were when it came to AV) they could let the SNP have their bottle (and then lost the Referendum) and have gotten into government last time without much difficulty (and likely still be there right now). Again the Scottish Lib dems cant do this because it would conflict with orders from London.

So for either of these parties to recover from this election, they need to take a leaf out of the other parties books. The Scottish Greens and Conservatives are, by and large, independent of London. They set policy appropriate to what they know will work in Scotland, rather than what the politburos down south want.

I hate being right some times, but it seems my assessment of the Socialist parties was spot on :**:. They formed themselves into 3 factions in Glasgow, split the vote and diluted one anothers support. If you look at them numbers for the Glasgow Party lists, and you add up all the socialist party votes, they could have just pipped either the Tories or Greens for the last seat. So effectively by voting Socialist (or Respect) youd have been as well off voting Tory or Green. Well done guys! Like I said, the Socialist need to realise that they are their own worse enemies. If they could just sit down and have a sensible talk about strategy they might stand a change next time. If gorgeous George can’t get a seat in Glasgow, what chance do you think you have? Not that Im going to complain, as the Green got in :>>!

Of course the real disappointment of the night was the failure of the AV referendum, a triumph for fear and loathing over democracy and reason :no:. We see it all the time in Ireland, inevitably both parties play the fear card, usually the one with the most to loose, as it was here with the Tories and of course their Tabloid newspaper allies do fear really well. Theyve been using fear and scare tactics to sell papers for decades by convincing a large portion of middle England that the UK is overrun with Immigrants over here to steal our jobs while live the lazy live on benefits and committing knife crime (and terrorism) in their spare time :lalala:.

An example of such scaremongering tactics, in the 1995 Irish divorce referendum (yes it took us till 1995 to pass a divorce referendum!) the way the no camp :crazy: went on youd swear half the farmers wives in the country were going to be looking for a divorce the next day and taking the farm too. Of course this was complete BS. Equally, in the more recent Lisbon Treaty referendum we were told by the no camp that if it passed the Germans would be running the Irish economy…well okay, that one sort of happened ;D, but the rest of what the no lot said, about the minimum wage going down to 2 euro or us all being drafted into the EU army or being overrun with Poles and Latvians (inward migration into Ireland has since gone down not up), none of this came to pass. Indeed, the Lisbon Treaty referendum in Ireland is interesting because of the action of Nigel Farage of UKIP, he helped get the Lisbon treaty passed in Ireland. Yes, really! He was interviewed on TV in Ireland in the lead up to the Referendum and we all thought that if this little xenophobic nice-but-dim toff was against the EU, then we were in favour if it ;D. A rare moment of clarity. Cheers Nigel!

I would finally note thought, to any Labour party supporters who voted no against AV (you know who you are!) that if (and its a big if) Scotland does get independence, while the Scots will never have to worry about Tory governments again, England will be all but condemned to have them more regularly. Without AV and lacking the more generally left wing Scotland (and possibly Wales) in the UK it will be much harder, if not impossible, for the Labour/lib dems to gain power in the UK under the current voting system. Well done lads! Next time use youre head to decide how you vote not what some right wing lackey of the Murdochs in the Sun says :wave:.

It would seem Gorgeous George Galloway, the Celebrity Big Brother star (what was he thinking going on that show! now I can call him that, as can the media to his face and still keep a straight face), is returning to Scotland to run in the Scottish parliamentary elections, here in Glasgow no less. Well, it will at the very least make politics that bit more interesting again! If he wins, I say we make him special spokesman to the US congress, then we can be guaranteed theyll shut up about all that Megrahi stuff.

Unfortunately, for Gorgeous George he has a challenger….well okay therell be many challengers thats the whole point of an election! labour candidates, liberal, SNP and (dont laugh) Tory (soon to merge with the monster raving loony party .which would double theyre votes!). No, Im referring to the fact that Gail Sheridan, wife of Tommy (Swinger) Sheridan is also running in the same constituency.http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/14/gail-sheridan-stand-scottish-parliament

Ay…? Two socialist politicians running in the same constituency, wont ye just dilute the vote and then neither of ye will get in? I mean okay, until recently, you could squeeze a loo roll between the policies of the three major parties and they all run against each other but for any small political group like the socialists its important to be a little smarter, and you know have a meeting and agree a strategy such as Ill run in the constituency, youll run in that one, Ill go on Celebrity Dancing on Ice, youll go on Celeb wipeout, etc. But as usual we can trust them to behave like true socialists and press the self destruct button. No doubt one will run under the banner The Scottish Socialists Peoples Front and the other The Peoples Socialist Front of Scotland, with some nutter running against both calling himself The Scottish Socialists – Popular Front.

A lot of people on the political left of the Green movement, often complain that the Green Party in Scotland are too middle of the road (i.e. they think its a good idea to use market economics to solve climate change) with those on the left feeling the party should wear their red shirts under their green jerseys. Well if the Socialists in Scotland are anything to go by, Id have to disagree, as inevitably it would mean the party splitting into several tiny fragments each of which could hold theyre AGM in a telephone box and the changes of getting people elected and influencing government policy would swiftly drop to nil.

Im mean how many reading this actually take the socialists and theyre politics seriously? Come on? Anybody? And were in a time when the banks and the city have fecked up the economy, wallowing in a trough of our bail out money and now have an attitude wasnt our fault! Now stop whining and sign my bonus cheque. This is a time when socialists should be running high in the polls, and theyre ideas at least being seriously considered, but no, they are instead looked on as little short of a laughing stock by most people. And while one can point the finger at a lot of malicious attacks by certain right wing biased newspapers, I think a certain level of blame needs to be met by the Socialists themselves and this constant back-biting, and in-fighting.